Portable dam



March 24, 1953 A. BLEVINS, JR

PORTABLE DAM I Filed Feb. 9, 1951 INVENTOR. flz. a/vzofi 4 1- V/MSJI? BYPatented Mar. 24, 1953 Alonzo Blevins, J r., Huntington, W. Va.

Application February 9, 1951, Serial No. 210,169

3 Claims. (01. 22086) i This invention relatesto portable dams and moreparticularly to a dam for keeping water out 'of ground openings, such asthe filler openings .for gasoline storage tanks.

In operating gasoline service stations it has been found necessary tolocate the filler openings for the underground storage tanks in thepavement adjacent the service pumps in order to render the openingsreadily accessible to the tank trucks which supply the gasoline or otherfuel to the storage tanks. fessary to locate the closure caps for theseopenings substantially flush with the pavement so they willnot'interfere with vehicles or pedestrians It has also been foundnecmoving over the pavement. When a closure cap is removed'for anypurpose, such as supplying additional gasoline to thetank or inserting ameas- "uring stick, the top of the opening is flush with the surface ofthe pavement and surface water,

such as that from heavy rain or melting snow, will run into the openingand into the storage tank for which the filler opening is provided.

While means are provided for periodically pumping water from the storagetanks, an excessive amount of water entering the tanks not onlynecessitates frequent pumping but may rise in a tank to the intake ofthe service pump so that water may be pumped into the fuel tanks ofautomotive vehicles.

' It is, therefore, among the ob ects of the present inventionto providea portable dam which can be placed around such a ground opening andsealed to the pavement to preclude the flow of surface water into theopening when the latter is open or uncovered: which dam-comprises aunitary structure which is easy to carry and to place in'operativeposition around a ground opening and will remain in positionand in sealing engagement with the pavement by its own weight a andwithout the use of fasteners of any kind;

which carries a body of plastic ,sealing'material for contact with thepavement around the ground opening to provide a watertight seal; whichincludes an outer body of resilient material to pre- --vent breakage andfacilitate making and maintaining a sealwith the pavement; and which isscription and-the appended claims in conjunctionw'ith the accompanyingdrawing wherein:

Figure 1 is-adiagrammatic cross sectional view fragmentarilyillustrating a storage tank, filler openingf and covering pavement witha portable dam, illustrativeoftheinvention, disposed on the pavementsurrounding the filler opening;

Figure 2 is a top plan view on an enlarged scale of the portable dam anda fragmentary portion of the dam supporting pavement; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional View on the line 3--3 of Figure 2.

With continued reference to the drawing, the underground storage tankI!) is illustrated as disposed below a pavement II having a flat topsurface, and a filler pipe I 2 extends substantially through thepavement and has its lower end secured to the tank In surrounding anaperture l3 in the latter. An annular recess or counterbore is providedin the pavement at the upper end of the filler pipe l2, this recessbeing lined by an annular collar l4 and the filler pipe I2 is providedwith screw threads I5 at its upper end to receive a closure cap, notillustrated. When the closure cap is threaded onto the upper end of thepipe 12 it closes the pipe and has its upper surface disposedsubstantially flushwith the surface of the pavement ll. When the cap isremoved the filler opening through thepavement has its upper end,corresponding to the upper end of the collar [4, flush with the pavementand in position to receive surface water flowin across the pavement fromrain, melting snow or other source. I

In order to stop this flow of surface water into the filler opening theportable dam, as generally indicated at It, may be placed on thepavement surrounding the filler opening. I

In the arrangement illustrated, the portable dam comprises a circularbody of resilient material, such as vulcanized rubber, having an insidediameter somewhat greater than the diaccidentally driven over the filleropening a vehicle wheel would pass over the .dam' without damage tothe-vehicleor to the dam.

The annular body of resilient materialhasi 'a i substantiallyrectangular cross sectional area except that its peripheral surface istconcavely curved in a transverse direction so that the body is somewhatthicker at one end than at the other. The body has flat andsubstantially parallel end surfaces and has an inner annular surface ofcylindrical shape and substantially perpendicular to the end surface.Two annular grooves l1 and it are provided in and are concentric with.the body with the groove ll opening to the end surface at the narrowerend ofthe body and the groove l8 opening to the end surface at thethicker end of the body. These grooves, as illustrated. are equal indiameter (see Figure 3) are of square or rectangular cross sectionalshape and are separated by an annular intermediate body portion [9. Acylindricalwall 20 of substantially uniform thickness covers the innersides'of the grooves and an outer annular wall 2| which tapers inthickness from one end of the body to the other covers the outer sidesof the grooves.

The groove ll' opens to the thinner and upper end of the annular bodyand an annular body 22 of heavy material, such as lead, is disposed inthe groove I! to increase'the weight of the dam. An:

annular body 23 of plastic sealing material, such as water pump grease,is disposed in the groove [8 so that its exposed surface will contact:the sur face of the pavement when the portable dam is. placed inposition on the pavement surrounding a filler opening therein. Bymanually pressing the dam down around the filler opening the material ofthe body 23 can be forced' against the pavement with suflicient pressureto provide a watertight seal between this body and the pavement and,because of the plastic nature of the material, the material will adhereto the pavementand assist in holding the dam in operative. positionaround the. filler opening. In this connection, the. fact that thegrooves are equal irrdiameter and concentric withv the axis of theannular body in which they are formed will cause the groove ll to bedisposed immediately above and vertical alignment with the groove 18-,as a result of which the downward pressure exerted by the weight of thelead istransmitted downwardly throughthe resilient body portion l9, di-

rectly against the: body of plastic sealing material, thus to force theplastic body into sealing engagement with asupporting surface on whichpavement in the manner indicated above, the Y cover cap for the filleropening may be removed and therewill be no danger of surface waterflowing into the filler opening. An object, such as the hose: nozZl-eld,may then be inserted through the damand into the upper end of the fillerpipe 1:2 to flow liquid, such as gasoline or other motor fuehinto theundergroundstorage tank.

The portable dams may be manuiacturedand sold without the plasticsealing material and this material may be filled intothe groove it whenit is desired to use the dam and may be replenislred whenever necessarysince grease of suitable characteristics-.iszcarried by nearly allfilling stations. The dam. may be carried on'thev fuel transportingtank: truck or may be kept at the; filling station, as may be: desired,since it is of light weight and occupies: very little space and can bestored or transported without deterioration.

The invention may be embodied in other specifio forms" without departingfromthe spiritor essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all ,cross. sectionalshape and having therein spaced apart annular grooves opening torespectively opposite end faces of said body, said grooves being equalin diameter and being concentric with said body for disposition of thegrooves in. substantially vertical alignment when the body is positionedupon a substantially horizontal supporting surface, an annular body ofheavy material in one ofs-aid grooves, and an annular body of plasticsealing material in the other of said grooves, said body'of heavymaterial constituting means efiective to transmit pressure to theplastic body along lines paralleling the axis of the first named body toform a seal between said first named body and a surface supporting thesame.

2. A portable dam comprising a body of elastic material having anopening therethrough and having substantially parallel end facesextendin around said opening, said body also having groove thereinopening oneto each of said end faces and extending around said. opening,said grooves being equal in diameter and being con centric with saidbodyfor disposition of the grooves: in, substantially vertical alignmentwhen the body is positioned upon a substantially horizontal supportingsurface, a body of heavy material in. one' of said grooves to increasethe weight of said dam, and a body of plastic sealing material intheother ofsaid grooves, said body of heavy material constituting meansefiective to transmit pressure to the plastic body along linesparalleling the axis of the firstnamed body to form a seal between saidfirst named body and a surface supporting the same.

3. A portable dam comprising an annular body of vulcanized rubber havingan inner annular surface, a peripheral surface and substantiallyparallel flat end faces, saidbody alsohaving annular grooves surroundingthe opening therein and opening one to each of said end faces, saidgrooves being separated by an intermediate portion of said body, saidgrooves being equal in di- 1 ameter andbeing concentric with said bodyfor disposition of the grooves in substantially vertical alignment: whenthe body is positioned upon a substantially horizontal supportingsurface, an annular body of lead in one of said grooves, and an annularbody of plastic sealing material in the other of saidgrooves, said bodyof lead constituting means effective to transmit pressure to the plasticbody through saidintermediate portion along lines paralleling the axisof the. first named body, to form a seal between said first named bodyand the surface-supporting. the same.

ALONZO' BLEVINS, J R.

REFERENCES GHJED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 248.901 Wetherill Nov. 1, 18811,733,261 Higby Oct. 29, 1929 1,89%,867 Hoflman Jan. 17, 1933 2,047,580Dewey July 14, 1936 2,049,955 Gilbert Aug. 4', 1936 2,152,719 WilliamApr. 4, 1939 2,389,672 Lippold Nov. 27, 1945 2,553,447 Fechheimer May15, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,456 Great Britain of1908 338,124 Germany June 13, 1921

